


everything my friends say

by trouvailleamor



Series: The Breakfast Club [2]
Category: The Breakfast Club (1985)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, monday after
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-03-23 17:18:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13792440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trouvailleamor/pseuds/trouvailleamor
Summary: What does Claire Standish do the Monday after?





	everything my friends say

Claire Standish knew exactly what she was going to do come Monday.

She spent all day Sunday thinking over every possible situation that could happen, and realized that only one thing could be done. Ignoring them was the only option.

Sure, she’d talk to Andy if he approached her first. But Brian and Allison? She couldn’t.

She knows they deserve better, of course they do. They deserve better than to be treated like shit by the entire student body. They deserve better than Shermer High. They deserve better than her. 

She would leave them alone. It’s the biggest favor she can think to give them. Because Bender was right, she is a bitch who cares more about herself than others, and they deserve better than that.

Bender, _John_ , was a completely different thing all together. Claire decided after much deliberation to let him make the next move. She had given him her diamond earrings. He can decide what to do next. Because John also deserves better than her, but he would never reach out and get it. 

She’s standing in front of her mirror, applying a layer of cherry-colored lipstick. Her dad beeps the horn out in the driveway and she groans. _I can’t wait to get out of this house,_ she thinks as she grabs her bag and shuts the door behind her.

~~~

The second she walks through the front doors of Shermer High School, she is slammed with a familiar wall of anxiety. The hallways are full of people, and for a second, she can’t even tell who belongs to what clique. 

She keeps her head down and makes her way to her locker. She doesn’t know if the other have seen her. As she approaches her locker, two of her friends, Laurie and Olivia, walk up next to her. 

“How was detention?” Olivia asks, admiring her new manicure.

“Yeah, was it totally weirds-ville?” Laurie adds.

“You could say that,” Claire says, grabbing her books out of her locker and closing it behind her. 

That’s when she sees him. Bender is walking down the hallway, smirking at something his friend said. Claire almost stops walking when he finally sees her. He doesn’t say anything, doesn’t make any attempt to connect with her, but he _bites his lip_ and then tucks his hair behind his ear. 

Glimmering in the same spot as Saturday is her diamond earring. 

Claire blushes and looks away, hoping her friends can’t see the pink rising on her cheeks. Fortunately for her, they don’t.

“Oh my God, that criminal totally just _leered_ at you!” Laurie exclaims.

“So gross,” Olivia mumbles, linking elbows with Claire.

“Yeah, totally gross,” Claire says, not at all meaning the words.

~~~

Claire knows exactly where Bender will be during their free period. All the criminals sneak out to the bleachers near the football field to smoke in between classes. She slips out of the back door and makes her way over to the field.

“Fancy seeing you here,” Claire says as she ducks under the bleachers. 

Bender’s head shoots up from where he is hunched over his lighter. “Cherry?” 

“John,” She says, coming closer and leaning next to the post in front of him. 

He squints at her and leans down to light his joint. After breathing in, he offers it to her but she shakes her head. 

“What are you doing here?” He asks. She likes him like this, when they’re alone. Even though it had only happened once before this, Claire already knows that he lets his tough guy act down around her. She wants to see more of that.

“You’re wearing my earring,” She says, a small smile growing on her face.

He tilts his head then shakes it. “Have you seen the others yet?”

Claire looks down at her feet and kicks some dirt out of the way. “No.”

“Me either. But Sporto’s in my shop class so I’ll see him later,” He says, bringing the joint back to his lips.

Claire watches him for a minute, taking in the sight. She then looks back down at the ground. “Are you gonna talk to him?”

“Only if he talks to me first,” He says.

“What about Brian and Allison?” She asks.

He doesn’t say anything, but he nods. “And what about you Cherry? Are you going to disappoint us all?” He says, sarcasm seeping into his words.

Claire steps closer, into his space. “Probably,” She says, then leans in and kisses him. 

She is surprised at first that he kisses her back, his lips moving softly against hers. She never truly knows what to expect when she puts herself out there in front of John Bender. So far, it seems that things go a lot better when they’re alone. Claire makes note of that.

She presses into him, her hands coming to rest at the the base of his neck. His hands clutch her hair softly and she leans into the touch. She’s never kissed anyone before him, but she doubts that it always feels like this. 

Claire pulls back for breath and tries to suppress the small smile that’s growing on her face. Bender looks at her with that _look_ , the unguarded look that he gave her when she lied for him about the screw, when they were high, when she came to him in the closet. 

She really does like him best like this.

He squints at her, observing her, and then he shakes his head. 

“You’re going to ignore them, just like you said you would,” He says, surprisingly no judgement seeping into his voice.

“No matter how much of a bitch I am, I’m always true to my word,” Claire says, leaning against the side of the bleachers. 

“Do you really care _that much_ about what other people say? Because that’s just pathetic,” John says, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“Not really. Not anymore,” Claire says softly. “I just… don’t want to hurt them. Brian and Allison, I mean. They deserve better.”

Bender stares at her for a long time, not making a sound. He shakes his head again and grabs his bag off the ground. 

“At least be consistent, Cherry,” He says. 

“What do you mean?” She asks, following him as he ducks out from under the bleachers. 

“First, you won’t talk to them because you’re scared of what your friends will think of them. Now, you decide you don’t want to hurt them?” He steps forward into her space and she casts her eyes down to the ground.

“None of this is about them, Claire. You’ve got problems you’ve got to work out for yourself.” He begins to stalk off over toward the school. 

“What about you?” She says, not really sure what she’s asking.

He shakes his head for what feels like the hundredth time. “See you around, Cherry.”

John Bender walks back into the school, leaving Claire standing by herself in the middle of a field, having a lot more questions than answers.

~~~

Claire stands outside for her entire free period, not really knowing what to do with herself. _”None of this is about them, Claire,”_ Bender had said. At first, she thought he was accusing her of being a selfish bitch. Now, she wasn’t so sure.

She wishes that John Bender would just say what he was thinking. 

She makes her way back to her locker, feeling slightly overwhelmed. Out of nowhere, Laurie appears next to her and grabs her arm. 

“You will never guess what Olivia saw this morning,” Laurie says, a grin on her face that means she knows something that maybe she shouldn’t.

“What?” Claire asks, although her heart isn’t in it.

“That totally weird goth chick in my English class was talking to Andrew Clark at his locker,” She whispers, scandal on her lips.

Claire halts to a stop and whips around to face her. “What weird goth chick?” 

Laurie furrows her brow. “I don’t remember her name. Something that starts with an A I think…”

Claire’s brain feels fuzzy. _Andy was talking to Allison this morning?_ She thinks. _Am I the only one too chicken to-_.

“Earth to Claire?” Laurie waves her hand in front of Claire’s face, breaking her out of her thoughts. 

“Sorry,” She mumbles.

“Anyways, she totally embarrassed herself…”

Claire lets Laurie’s words drift away into the background. She hadn’t considered that Andy would talk to Allison. _Maybe John was right about me…_

“Hey, what happened to your lipstick?” Laurie asks, breaking her thoughts once again.

Her cheeks heat up. “Uh, I had a cup of coffee this morning and must have forgotten to retouch it after,” She says, stumbling through the lie. 

“Ok…” Laurie says, sounding skeptical before launching herself into some more gossip.

~~~

When Laurie finally leaves her, Claire practically runs to her locker. Quickly doing her combination, she pulls it open and inspects herself in the mirror.

Her lipstick is totally smudged.

Letting out an anxious sigh, she pulls her tube of lipstick out of her backpack and starts to reapply it. 

She spots the letterman jacket in her peripheral vision before he leans up against the locker next to hers. 

She keeps her eyes on her reflection, not really sure how to start a conversation with him. _”Hey Andy, everyone’s talking about you and Allison. They think it’s totally weird, but I don’t_ or _”I’m sorry that I’m such a bitch”_ don’t quite seem sufficient enough. 

After a long stretch of silence, he says “Hey.”

And she panics.

“Hi. Listen, I’ve gotta run but I’ll talk to you later?” She says quickly, shutting her locker. She tries to force a smile in his direction as she takes off down the hallway. 

_I am such a coward,_ She thinks. 

~~~

Somehow, she manages to stay awake during the classes she has before lunch. However, just because she’s awake doesn’t mean that she's focused. While her body is sitting in a history class at a desk in the back, her mind keeps floating back to Saturday. 

She never would have even glanced at anyone in that room except for Andy before Saturday. But now… she has no idea what to do. 

Allison may be incredibly weird, but she stood up for her when Bender was laughing at her and she is actually a really cool person. 

Brian’s geekiness and awkwardness is in its own way very charming, and he cares deeply about the other members of the Breakfast Club. Only a special kind of person would write a paper for everyone and hit it perfectly on the mark.

And John, he is complex. His life has not been easy and he is struggling just to get by. She understands why he is the way he is, even though she will never be able to appreciate it fully. He likes her, but she wasn’t sure how much. She wants to find out.

But she brings a lot of baggage to the table. Her friends have always controlled every decision she makes. Even though high school popularity is only powerful between the walls of the building, it does have power. She doesn’t want make their lives harder by talking to them. She doubts people like Laurie, Olivia, and Stubby will go easy on them if their Homecoming Queen starts dating a criminal and hanging out with the school weirdos.

On the other hand, she doesn’t want her friends controlling her life anymore.

She wonders how hard the decision was for Andy. She wonders if his friends know yet. 

~~~

As it turns out, the answer to that question came a lot faster than she thought it would. The second the bell rings, everyone vacates the classroom. The halls are loud and full of people, but Claire still feels completely alone. 

She sees Olivia across the hall and thinks about avoiding her, but the girl practically runs over to her.

“You will not _believe_ what Laurie saw earlier,” Olivia says. 

“She told me. I don’t really understand why everyone’s freaking out about it. They were just talking,” She says.

“Oh, they were doing a whole lot more than talking,” She says in a hushed tone.

“What?” Claire asks.

Olivia moves in closer. “They were making out by Andy’s locker earlier.”

Claire almost drops the books in her hand. “ _What?_ ”

Olivia nods. “Yup, it’s totally weird. Ben’s running theory is that she’s blackmailing him about something-“

“She’s not blackmailing him,” Claire snaps.

“God Claire, why else would he be kissing _her_?” She says, raising her eyebrows. 

“Maybe he _actually_ likes her,” Claire says. “Just because you like him doesn’t mean that he has to like you back.”

“What’s gotten into you? Laurie says you’ve been acting weird all day,” Olivia says, taking a step away from her.

“Maybe I’m tired of you making fun of people for no reason. Andy’s happy, so leave him alone,” Claire tries to break away but Olivia grabs her arm. 

“I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but I’d cut it out if I were you.” She lets go of her arm and walks away. 

Claire lets out a shaky breath and walks towards the cafeteria. 

~~~

She sees the Breakfast Club, minus Allison, sitting at a table close to the door. She feels their eyes on her and she glances over them, settling on Bender’s stare. There’s a challenge in his eyes, asking her the question on both of their minds.

She pulls her eyes away and keeps walking.

She gets to her usual table and sits down in her usual chair, pretending like today was a usual day. Stubby, Jerry, and Ben are already there, so she smiles at them.

“How did he even meet her?” Stubby asks the guys, his mouth full of sandwich.

“Don’t know, don’t really care,” Jerry says, stealing some of Ben’s chips.

Olivia and Laurie appear and sit down on either side of Claire. They don’t say anything, but Claire can feel the tension.

“I’ve heard she’s completely out of her mind,” Ben adds.

“It seems like Andy is too,” Stubby says.

“Careful, don't insult the lovebirds or Claire will throw a bitch fit,” Olivia says, and Laurie conceals a laugh.

“Excuse me?” Claire says, her mouth falling open. 

“You heard me,” Olivia says, smirking.

For whatever reason, that’s the last straw for Claire. She stands up, grabs her lunch bag, and walks away from her “friends”. As she leaves the cafeteria, she spares a quick glance over to the Breakfast Club. They are laughing about something; Brian’s head is thrown back, Andy is shaking his head, and Bender is smiling at them both. 

None of them notice her leaving.

~~~

Claire doesn’t quite know what to do with herself now. She feels tears welling up in her eyes, so she pushes herself into the closest bathroom. After throwing her lunch into the trash, she leans over the sink and presses her hands over her eyes. 

“Uh, Claire?” She hears a soft voice. She whips around and wipes her eyes frantically.

“Allison?” She says, meeting her eyes. “Why aren’t you at lunch?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Allison says, then she turns to face herself in the mirror. She lifts her bangs up above her head, then lets it down with a sigh.

“What are you doing?” Claire asks.

Allison glances at her, then looks down to her feet. She digs the toes of her Converse into the tile floor while letting out a sigh. “Andy says he likes to see my face.”

 

Claire can’t even try to hide her smile. “I think I can help with that.”

~~~

Claire brings Allison to her locker. Allison leans right where Andy was this morning while Claire digs through her stuff.

“So why aren’t you at lunch?” Allison asks, biting her thumbnail.

Claire gives her a soft smile. “I didn’t want to be there anymore.”

Allison quirks her head to the side but doesn’t ask her to explain. 

Claire finally finds what she’s looking for. She pulls out the black piece of metal and holds it out to Allison.

“Could you do it like you did on Saturday?” Allison asks.

Claire grins and says, “Of course.”

~~~

The school day drags on; Claire is certain that she has never experienced a day go so slowly. She is able to avoid Olivia and Laurie for most of the day, and when she does see them in passing, they sneer at her but don’t say a word. 

After the last bell rings, she walks slower than the crowd because she no longer has to run to meet Olivia and Laurie so they could discuss all the gossip of the day. For once, _she_ is the person they’re gossiping about. 

She makes it to her locker without incident, but while she’s packing up her backpack for the day, she makes eye contact with Brian.

He looks almost embarrassed and slightly scared, and he looks down at the ground instantly. Claire watches him and before she knows what she’s doing, she calls out, “Brian!”

 _If Andy can be brave, then so can I,_ she thinks. 

Brian stops in his tracks and looks up at her, shock written all over his face. “Me?”

Claire laughs. “Yeah, you. Come over here,” She says.

He cautiously moves toward her locker, looking as though he thinks someone is going to jump out and beat him up at any second.

“I didn’t see you today,” Claire says, zipping her backpack closed and closing her locker.

“Yes you did,” He says. When she looks confused, Brian clarifies. “At lunch. You saw us at lunch.”

Claire nods, “Oh yeah. I’m sorry about that.”

“So why are you talking to me now?” He asks.

“Because I want to,” Claire says. “Is that… is that okay?”

Brian’s face is unreadable and he remains silent. Claire almost asks again, but then Olivia and Jerry are walking towards her.

“Claire, is this your new boyfriend?” Olivia asks, a laugh in her voice. Jerry laughs as well, then shoves Brian against the locker.

“I don’t want any trouble,” Brian says. 

Laurie, who must have been watching from a distance, comes up next to Olivia.

“Oh my God, he’s such a dork!” She says, laughing at Brian.

“Leave him alone!” Claire demands, getting her a surprise look from Brian and angry looks from her “friends”.

“Or what, Claire? What are you going to do?” Jerry teases and he lifts his fist. Brian covers his face with his arms. 

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” A voice comes from behind the group of Claire’s old friends.

Jerry, Olivia, and Laurie turn around and come face to face with John Bender. 

“Oh yeah? What are _you_ going to do, pothead?” Jerry says, antagonizing John.

“Well, I’ll kill you,” He says nonchalantly, then he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a pocketknife. 

Although Claire can’t see his face, she can imagine Jerry’s eyes are nearly popping out of his head. It makes her smile. 

“Get out of here,” Bender says, and Jerry raises his hands and starts to back away. Laurie follows his lead and Olivia turns around to face Claire, her face red with anger. 

“Good luck winning Prom Queen now, Claire,” Olivia says. She then smirks and runs to catch up with Jerry and Laurie. 

Once they’re out of sight, Brian sags back into the locker and lets out a hysterical laugh.

“Claire, your friends are assholes,” Brian says, then he looks at Bender. “I thought Allison took your knife?”

“Why would you think that I only have one?” Bender smiles, then finally looks at Claire.

“Hello Cherry,” He says.

“Hi,” She smiles at him. He looks at her with that _look_ again and she bites her lip, just slightly. 

Next to her, Brian makes a gagging sound. “You guys are gross.”

Are they gross? Claire doesn’t know. It doesn’t sound too bad to her.

“We’re going to Allison’s house to study. Do you- I mean, would you like to come along?” Brian asks, uncertainty still hanging in his voice. 

She smiles at him and then turns back to Bender. “Are you going to study John?” She asks.

He snorts. “We’ll see.”

~~~

Claire can’t believe she’s actually sitting in Allison Reynolds’ basement. They walked here together, Andy holding Allison’s hand, Bender talking to Brian about shop class, and Claire walking behind watching them. When they got to her house, Allison led them down to her basement. Her mother was sitting in the living room. The group walked by and she didn’t even look up.

Surprisingly, John _did_ actually do homework. Well, sort of. He is currently walking Brian through the steps of making a lamp, with Andy butting in with tips every few minutes. Allison is sitting next to Andy and is sketching something in her sketchbook. Claire is settled on the other side of Andy and is trying to work through her history homework.

“Hey,” Andy whispers to her, nudging her shoulder. “Why didn’t you sit with us at lunch?”

Claire looks down at her lap. “I don’t know. I’m so sorry. You know Olivia and Jerry. They’re pretty ruthless,” She says.

“What made you change your mind?” Andy asks.

She smiles, not for the first time today. “Allison.”

Andy looks over his shoulder at Allison, who is so focused on whatever she’s drawing that a little bit of her tongue is sticking out between her lips. “Funny,” He says. “Me too.”

~~~

A half an hour later, Andy is asleep on Allison’s shoulder, Allison is still working on her drawing, and Brian is taking extensive notes on the correct procedure of making a lamp. John stands up and stretches.

“I wanna smoke,” He says, and Allison, without looking up, points over to the door that leads to the backyard. 

He nods and pulls a cigarette out of his back pocket, then heads out the door. Claire waits one second, then two, then she stands up and follows him out.

She finds him leaning against the side of Allison’s house, lighting the cigarette in his hand. “Fancy seeing you here,” Claire says, repeating the words from this morning. 

At first, Bender doesn’t respond. He placed the cigarette between his lips and drops his lighter into his pocket. He exhales smoke and it forms a cloud around him. “And what _are_ you doing here, Claire?”

Claire shrugs and leans on the wall next to him. “I’m just a selfish person I guess.”

“Well we all know that,” He says, smirking. “But what does that have to do with anything?” 

“My friends dumped me, so I come here,” She says.

“And why did they do that?” He says, taking another drag of his cigarette. 

Claire kicks the gravel at her feet and lets out a breath. “They were saying shit about Andy and Allison.”

Bender doesn’t seem to be too surprised about that fact, as he just takes another drag. “So? Don’t you and your friends always say shit about other people?”

Claire shrugs. “I guess… I guess I’m just sick of it.”

John drops his cigarette and stomps it out with his foot. “You know, there are good and bad kinds of selfish.”

Claire doesn’t know if she’ll ever stop being surprised by the things that come out of John Bender’s mouth. In fact, she’s so surprised by it that her mouth drops open but no words come out.

Bender smiles and moves toward the door. He stops at her shoulder and looks down on her, with the vulnerable look that she loves. 

“John,” She whispers, not really sure what she wants to say.

Luckily, Bender does. He brings his lips close to her ear, so close that she can smell the cigarettes on his breath.

“I know,” He says, then heads back into the basement.

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't planning on writing a second part of this series but Claire has been stuck in my head for a while now... Let me know if you like it!


End file.
